My hatred towards the Washington Capitals organization and its ensuing fan base has reached a level of hysterical, blinding rage and I have nowhere else to turn. I apologize for the length of this post and its general topic but I needed some type of outlet to vent my frustration and I thought who better than the LGW community? I need to be talked down before I have a brain aneurysm or I tackle the Caps fan and choke them with my throwback inspired hooded Red Wings sweatshirt.

For those who have read my posts in the past, I have always made an effort to maintain some level of objectivity and positivity as forums have a tendency to skew towards the fantastical and infighting. I desperately tried to grant the benefit of the doubt, justified behavior, and continually made excuses however, at three years of a constant barrage of inanity, I must admit that I can no longer stand idly by and hold my tongue  I, the Octopus Kid am a Caps Hater.

I moved to Washington DC over three years ago and immediately starved by the absence of my Red Wings turned towards the Washington Capitals as a way to satiate my need for hockey. The Capitals had just come off an disappointing last place finish from the 2007 season but there was a glimmer of hope as they had a young and promising core of players: Alexander Semin, Mike Green, Nicklas Backstrom, and of course Alex Ovechkin. Also, Sergei Federov  it felt like seeing an old friend from high school and being pleasantly surprised that they had matured, grown and developed into a reasonably interesting person. I was immediately drawn to this team. They were young, exciting, and bursting potential with a wide eyed earnest of rookies with no direction, learning the difficult lessons from an unforgiving league.

The Verizon was also an incredible experience. Small and intimate by modern arena standards, it sits in the middle of Chinatown and gives a very tall experience as the building is steep since the city was constrained by a city block in width. Ted Leonsis, the owner, was in attendance of every game and gave off a jovial and excited presence in his sport coats and red sweater vest; much like a Corporate Santa Claus. He placed an incredible emphasis on the fan experience as his team struggle to be competitive the previous season and tried to produce fan friendly environment: games, impressive introductions, over the top production, lights, sounds, marketing, and giveaways.

The crowd was relatively sparse but as the Capitals continued to climb the standings, so did the attendance. More and more fans piled into the arena with families and friends, and were like the players  new to the league, the rules, the traditions, the opposing players, and I found them to be earnest and sincere in their questions: Why is that a penalty?, Who is that goaltender?, What teams are in the Southeast division?. Pretty basic, but it seemed as if hockey fever was growing in Washington and I was excited to bear witness to it.

I thought myself to be lucky  but things turned ugly rather quickly.

The Capitals made their first recent day playoff appearance that year and quickly fell into a large deficit to the much more experienced and aggressive Flyers that year. The team looked completely unprepared for the drastic increase in physical play and amped intensity. Suddenly the picture perfect shooting opportunities disappeared and everyone seems to be finishing their checks. Every inch of the ice was earned and the Capitals were punched in the mouth. By the time they figured it out, it was too late and they were sent home in a first round upset.

I chuckled to myself  reminded of the early playoff appearances of the Red Wings and how they were forced to adjust their style of play, to stop trading chances and learn to commit to two-way hockey. Offense becomes a luxury but effort and defense still reigned supreme. This was a great season and the Capitals learned a valuable lesson  Offense wins game, but Defense wins championships. I was excited to see them take what they learned and really learn the finer subtleties.

The Capitals response was to add goalie Jose Theodore to their roster which goaltender was a concern last season however it was still the overall teams refusal or denial to play defensive minded hockey. Ill be the first to admit that a young team which offensive talent takes time to learn the necessity of defensive hockey and at times it takes an experienced voice of a proven veteran or coach (Scotty Bowman to Steve Yzerman) to catalyze the change. I thought Boudreau was a players coach and would not instill the discipline to the squad that they required and was nothing more than a stopgap for them to find a more experienced hand to shape the young team. Instead they ownership awarded Boudreau full control of the team and an extension.

The team responded in kind and stressed offense above all else. Still there were no signs of defensive commitment and they persisted to trade chances. Shaking my head, I knew the evitable result. Once the playoffs began, the Capitals found themselves on their back heels once again and failed to increase their focus and efforts to respond to the intensity of the playoffs. The Capitals were saved by the discovery of a Varlomov. And I know this will resonant with many of you, but is there anything more frightening than a first year goaltender who suddenly finds his confidence in the playoffs? There might be nothing more devastating to a team than a complete unknown who is playing better than anyone thought possible to wreck the confidence of their opponent  the more you shot, the more he grows in confidence  the more saves he makes  the more the opponent tries to do more with the puck to beat him  the more they miss  the better he gets. I felt for the Flyers and the Pens are they struggled to find a way to break this unknown and remembered all of the great unknown goaltenders that the Wings encountered only to have that goaltender slump back to mediocrity the next year.

At the end of the day, the Capitals sat a watched their opponents shot at their goaltender with no attempt to pressure the shooter, play defensive hockey, and learn from their past mistakes. They took all the wrong lessons.

I thought that they would be the Detroit Red Wings of old. High flying offensive players learn the value of defense and hard work: only through sweat and dedication can you win a cup, not through flashing offense that dominated the early years of Yzermans career. Instead they went backwards. You could see the confidence in their offensive abilities began to digress into arrogance. They were above playing defense because they could score more goals than the other team. All of this would be fine  let bygones be bygones as I found myself no longer cheering for what appeared to be a disinterested, defensively lazy, and arrogant team.

These  were the exact opposite of the Red Wings. The hardworking, gritty mindset that would become the trademark of past Cup Champions: Devils, Colorado, Detroit  was lost on this young Capitals team and instead they took the easy, flashy path of the 2005 Ottawa Senators, the 2006 Buffalo Sabres, the late 90s Rangers  offense over all other things.

The Capitals were no longer a team I wished really to follow other than tangentially. I would go to their games to see other visiting squads and players that I liked to see  or root against. And this is where my true hatred for the Capitals was discovered.

That said, from what you've expressed here, I can understand why you might have grown disinterested in the Caps. But I don't see where the white hot hatred stems from yet... what is it about them that makes you want to choke their fans now?

"During Robert Lang’s time in Detroit, he caused me anguish. Other times he brought me and my family great joy. Robert Lang occasionally coasts, and spends time searching for the best pane of glass to best view the reflection of his flowing mullet. Other times he is a strong-armed force with the puck. I never knew what to expect from Robert Lang. He is The Enigma. " - A2Y

My hatred towards the Washington Capitals organization and its ensuing fan base has reached a level of hysterical, blinding rage and I have nowhere else to turn. I apologize for the length of this post and its general topic but I needed some type of outlet to vent my frustration and I thought who better than the LGW community? I need to be talked down before I have a brain aneurysm or I tackle the Caps fan and choke them with my throwback inspired hooded Red Wings sweatshirt.

For those who have read my posts in the past, I have always made an effort to maintain some level of objectivity and positivity as forums have a tendency to skew towards the fantastical and infighting. I desperately tried to grant the benefit of the doubt, justified behavior, and continually made excuses however, at three years of a constant barrage of inanity, I must admit that I can no longer stand idly by and hold my tongue – I, the Octopus Kid am a Caps Hater.

I moved to Washington DC over three years ago and immediately starved by the absence of my Red Wings turned towards the Washington Capitals as a way to satiate my need for hockey. The Capitals had just come off an disappointing last place finish from the 2007 season but there was a glimmer of hope as they had a young and promising core of players: Alexander Semin, Mike Green, Nicklas Backstrom, and of course Alex Ovechkin. Also, Sergei Federov – it felt like seeing an old friend from high school and being pleasantly surprised that they had matured, grown and developed into a reasonably interesting person. I was immediately drawn to this team. They were young, exciting, and bursting potential with a wide eyed earnest of rookies with no direction, learning the difficult lessons from an unforgiving league.

The Verizon was also an incredible experience. Small and intimate by modern arena standards, it sits in the middle of Chinatown and gives a very “tall” experience as the building is steep since the city was constrained by a city block in width. Ted Leonsis, the owner, was in attendance of every game and gave off a jovial and excited presence in his sport coats and red sweater vest; much like a Corporate Santa Claus. He placed an incredible emphasis on the “fan experience” as his team struggle to be competitive the previous season and tried to produce fan friendly environment: games, impressive introductions, over the top production, lights, sounds, marketing, and giveaways.

The crowd was relatively sparse but as the Capitals continued to climb the standings, so did the attendance. More and more fans piled into the arena with families and friends, and were like the players – new to the league, the rules, the traditions, the opposing players, and I found them to be earnest and sincere in their questions: “Why is that a penalty?”, “Who is that goaltender?”, “What teams are in the Southeast division?”. Pretty basic, but it seemed as if hockey fever was growing in Washington and I was excited to bear witness to it.

I thought myself to be lucky – but things turned ugly rather quickly.

The Capitals made their first recent day playoff appearance that year and quickly fell into a large deficit to the much more experienced and aggressive Flyers that year. The team looked completely unprepared for the drastic increase in physical play and amped intensity. Suddenly the picture perfect shooting opportunities disappeared and everyone seems to be finishing their checks. Every inch of the ice was earned and the Capitals were punched in the mouth. By the time they figured it out, it was too late and they were sent home in a first round upset.

I chuckled to myself – reminded of the early playoff appearances of the Red Wings and how they were forced to adjust their style of play, to stop trading chances and learn to commit to two-way hockey. Offense becomes a luxury but effort and defense still reigned supreme. This was a great season and the Capitals learned a valuable lesson – Offense wins game, but Defense wins championships. I was excited to see them take what they learned and really learn the finer subtleties.

The Capitals response was to add goalie Jose Theodore to their roster which goaltender was a concern last season however it was still the overall team’s refusal or denial to play defensive minded hockey. I’ll be the first to admit that a young team which offensive talent takes time to learn the necessity of defensive hockey and at times it takes an experienced voice of a proven veteran or coach (Scotty Bowman to Steve Yzerman) to catalyze the change. I thought Boudreau was a “player’s” coach and would not instill the discipline to the squad that they required and was nothing more than a stopgap for them to find a more experienced hand to shape the young team. Instead they ownership awarded Boudreau full control of the team and an extension.

The team responded in kind and stressed offense above all else. Still there were no signs of defensive commitment and they persisted to trade chances. Shaking my head, I knew the evitable result. Once the playoffs began, the Capitals found themselves on their back heels once again and failed to increase their focus and efforts to respond to the intensity of the playoffs. The Capitals were saved by the discovery of a Varlomov. And I know this will resonant with many of you, but is there anything more frightening than a first year goaltender who suddenly finds his confidence in the playoffs? There might be nothing more devastating to a team than a complete unknown who is playing better than anyone thought possible to wreck the confidence of their opponent – the more you shot, the more he grows in confidence – the more saves he makes – the more the opponent tries to do more with the puck to beat him – the more they miss – the better he gets. I felt for the Flyers and the Pens are they struggled to find a way to break this unknown and remembered all of the “great unknown goaltenders” that the Wings encountered only to have that goaltender slump back to mediocrity the next year.

At the end of the day, the Capitals sat a watched their opponents shot at their goaltender with no attempt to pressure the shooter, play defensive hockey, and learn from their past mistakes. They took all the wrong lessons.

I thought that they would be the Detroit Red Wings of old. High flying offensive players learn the value of defense and hard work: only through sweat and dedication can you win a cup, not through flashing offense that dominated the early years of Yzerman’s career. Instead they went backwards. You could see the confidence in their offensive abilities began to digress into arrogance. They were above playing defense because they could score more goals than the other team. All of this would be fine – let bygones be bygones as I found myself no longer cheering for what appeared to be a disinterested, defensively lazy, and arrogant team.

These – we’re the exact opposite of the Red Wings. The hardworking, gritty mindset that would become the trademark of past Cup Champions: Devils, Colorado, Detroit – was lost on this young Capitals team and instead they took the easy, flashy path of the 2005 Ottawa Senators, the 2006 Buffalo Sabres, the late 90’s Rangers – offense over all other things.

The Capitals were no longer a team I wished really to follow other than tangentially. I would go to their games to see other visiting squads and players that I liked to see – or root against. And this is where my true hatred for the Capitals was discovered.

More to follow:

I live in Baltimore now and only go when the Wings are playing them. I absolutely hate going to that arena. I've been there before Ovechkin and it was truly a great place to see a game, but everything from the unruly, obnoxious, bandwagon fans, to the goal horn annoys me now.

I also think Joe Beninati has a horrdenous voice. I'd rather listen to Mickey Redmond talk about those "gosh darn composite sticks" for the entire 60 minutes than hear anything that that midget has to say. I guess Ken Daniels has spoiled me

Having that much hatred towards anything involving sports is just sad and pathetic. I live in Chicago and deal with the absurdity of Hawks fans, as well as years of terrible management. I claim to "hate" them, because they chant DETROIT SUCKS and have no hockey knowledge whatsoever...

But seriously man... calm down. It is a sport. A game. For entertainment. They aren't even 'your' team, as you have displayed yourself to be a Wings fan. You just gave a lengthy analysis of every way the Capitals aren't the Red Wings. There are 28 other teams who aren't the Red Wings either. You failed to mention where this blinding, hysterical rage comes from. Because their management isn't as good as the Wings?

I suggest you stop going to Caps games. Stop watching Caps games. Stop watching hockey. Clearly, it has a major negative effect on you emotionally, even leading you to become violent. Just remove yourself from hockey all together if your disillusions have angered you to the point of hatred and potential violence. Jeez.

I feel myself turning into a Washington hater myself. I liked them when they started becoming good, and when they picked up Fedorov I was really happy. But since he has left I'm slowly starting to realize I don't really like many of the players or the way they play as a team. Like you say, they seem arrogant. "No backcheck required, we'll just score another couple of goals."

Green, Ovie, Semin.. these are fun players to watch but I just can not root for them. They feel like the complete opposite of Yzerman, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Fedorov, Lidstrom.. you know, basically all my favorite players.

I do however hope they beat the Pens in the playoffs and that we face them in finals. I would love to see Datsyuk take Ovie out of that series the way he took him out of the games we played against them earlier this season.

Bandwagon Capitals fans have rather ruined the team for me here in Virginia as well. I still like to see them do well but I can't talk about hockey with anyone who became a Capitals fan in the past 2 years.

Was it sirdrake? I really miss that guy. His posts cracked me up. On that note, what is to keep Chris Chelios from breaking into the Caps lockerroom when the Thrash are in town, and tying all the Caps skates together with superglue, so they can't skate well?

Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.

I went to a doctor the other day, and all he did was suck blood out of my neck. Never go see Dr. Acula - Mitch Hedberg

Bandwagon Capitals fans have rather ruined the team for me here in Virginia as well. I still like to see them do well but I can't talk about hockey with anyone who became a Capitals fan in the past 2 years.

It's like a side effect of winning isn't it? It happened on LGW after the cup win in '08, Pens fans are Pens fans and now that WAS has the best player in the league (voted by peers), they're starting to show it too.

Winning: Side effects include fair-weather ****** bag fans who think their team is the greatest thing ever and simply cannot participate in a rational debate.

"During Robert Lang’s time in Detroit, he caused me anguish. Other times he brought me and my family great joy. Robert Lang occasionally coasts, and spends time searching for the best pane of glass to best view the reflection of his flowing mullet. Other times he is a strong-armed force with the puck. I never knew what to expect from Robert Lang. He is The Enigma. " - A2Y

It's like a side effect of winning isn't it? It happened on LGW after the cup win in '08, Pens fans are Pens fans and now that WAS has the best player in the league (voted by peers), they're starting to show it too.

Winning: Side effects include fair-weather ****** bag fans who think their team is the greatest thing ever and simply cannot participate in a rational debate.

Oh I didn't mean to imply that we, or any team is bandwagon-free, it just seems like that is a much bigger portion of the fan base for the Capitals. No one wore Caps gear around town before 2008, they didn't even really in 1998 when they made it to the Cup finals. lol and then I got s*** talked the whole ride home on the Metro from the January Wings game about how 1) the Red Wings were definitely not making the playoffs and 2) the Capitals were definitely winning the Cup. I just had to chuckle.

I still love going to games and sitting in entire sections of Ovie sweaters.

I cannot stand the Capitals because of one person, and one person only.

Bruce Boudreau.

I cannot stand how he looks, acts, speaks, whines, eats, and most of all coaches. He's never going to have successful in the playoffs until he instills at least some defensive mind into his top players.

Backstrom could be so much better of an overall player if he had a different coach...

I think the bandwagon fans may have got it right. They never have to go through real heartbreak, they just kind of let it roll of them and move on to the next thing. I mean, I'm glad I'm not wired that way, but it's probably fun. Expensive though, buying a different team jersey every couple years. Anyway, that wasn't even close to on-topic.

Being in Columbus, I have yet to develop any real dislike of the Blue Jackets. Any trash-talking in my direction I've met with laughter.

"During Robert Lang’s time in Detroit, he caused me anguish. Other times he brought me and my family great joy. Robert Lang occasionally coasts, and spends time searching for the best pane of glass to best view the reflection of his flowing mullet. Other times he is a strong-armed force with the puck. I never knew what to expect from Robert Lang. He is The Enigma. " - A2Y

I cannot stand the Capitals because of one person, and one person only.

Bruce Boudreau.

I cannot stand how he looks, acts, speaks, whines, eats, and most of all coaches. He's never going to have successful in the playoffs until he instills at least some defensive mind into his top players.

Backstrom could be so much better of an overall player if he had a different coach...

Yet you love Crosby? I'm not one to say that Crosby is not talented, he is exceedingly talented BUT in my mind there is doubt he is a whiner. Remember when he asked the refs to make an announcement for people to stop throwing hats onto the ice after Ovechkin's goal?

Yet you love Crosby? I'm not one to say that Crosby is not talented, he is exceedingly talented BUT in my mind there is doubt he is a whiner. Remember when he asked the refs to make an announcement for people to stop throwing hats onto the ice after Ovechkin's goal?

Please don't feed it.

"Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or f***in beatin's. The world ends when you're dead. Until then you got more punishment in store.Stand it like a man, and give some﻿ back."

Heading back to the Verizon center for the dozen or so games this season, the Capitals are now at the height of their power. No longer can you just walk up and grab some tickets because the Caps were now the most popular Washington DC event. If case you are unfamiliar with the Washington DC sports scene, much like LA, DC is a transient town full of displaced fans from other cities. You have a smattering of New York, Boston, Dallas, etc. fans from all over the country so it takes quite a bit of franchise success to really create a dedicated fan base. And with that being said, the Capitals are clearly the only viable sports team to follow. DC has been sports starved for years (keep up the good work Dan Snyder, the `Skins are bound to win the Super Bowl next year) and now they truly have a team to call their own.

The obvious result of this is Caps Fever. Or – to coin their marketing campaign – Washington DC is “Rockin’ the Red”, or “Painting the Capital Red”, Or “Lighting up the Red”. Okay, you’re Red and that is your color. Or it’s the Red Wings color…Because it’s in their name….since their inception…when you were Blue….*sigh*

You can hardly walk down the street without seeing at least some Capitals hats or shirt, jersey, or baby stroller. To be completely honest, it is thrilling to see the sport take such a rabid hold on this town – if I didn’t think it wasn’t just bandwagon fans – as I fail to remember any of this happening when the Caps weren’t in first place in the illustrious Southeast Division. I digress.

So I cherry picked a dozen or so games to attend from teams I liked to watch or certain players I respected (or hated): Boston, New Jersey, New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Detroit, etc. And long gone were the crowds that were there when I first started going to the Verizon center when it was half full. Faded were the honest and friendly crowds that were either true hockey fans or newcomers who wanted to learn about the sport. Instead I found myself crammed to the tilt by face painted band wagon jumpers and political staffers playing on their BlackBerrys hoping to be seen. The demand of the tickets has resulted in to the alienation of the hockey fans to corporate and political sponsors and the “crazies”. The old fans that I used to spend time chatting with casually have quickly grown rabid and hostile.

The fan base has put their own particular spins on new “traditions” – screaming “RED” during the national anthem, “Unleash The Fury”, the ever hilarious Burrito Toss, Cowbells but there seems to be a horrible level of ignorance and arrogance. After the first few isolated incidences, I thought that was anomalies, but as I attended more and more games I quickly learned that was the norm and no the exception.

Generally the Caps fan base is loud, drunk, and raucous. Everything you would want in a hockey arena. They scream, yell, and above all else defend their team to the death; even when they are wrong. Any self respecting fan would do the same. But it carries a rich undertone of entitlement (based on what I have no idea) and the pang of whining. The last 6 games or so I’ve noticed the hysterical outcries over any call – whether good or bad, that somehow adversely affects the Caps. And even every non-call that somehow doesn’t benefit the Caps. Again, this is not all that unusual.

But I began to closely follow the flow of the crowd; Caps player loses an edge with no contact from any opposing player, screams of rage for a call echo throughout the building – no reaction from the Caps bench or the player who lost the edge.
A high stick from Caps Player draws blood – 4:00m double minor, as usual – the Caps fans go nuts and a chant of diving ensues. Diving. From a bloodied player. Regardless of the quality of the penalty, call or no call, the group is near hysterics.

I can understand on some level, but it leaves me to believe one of two things: 1) The Fans have no idea what the rules actually are or 2) They don’t care. Neither or which are all that great of an option. All of this collective moaning and outrage has a way of wearing on you, especially when the players and the coaches don’t offer any objection. The most coming chant I’ve heard so far this season on an average of 3.33 times a game (yes, I counted and averaged) – “Ref, You Suck!” Ironically, the Washington Capitals are currently 21st in the league in PIM. Well below the average penalty minutes of the league. Additionally, the Capitals lead the league in Power Play Opportunities (145) at home. So, 3x times a game the crowd demands justice – yet the Capitals get more Power Play opportunities than any team in the NHL at home.

Wait for the final installment as I cover such varied topics as: How Lucky the Red Wings Are, Whose Nick Lidstrom?, How the Capitals are going to Beat the Red Wings Before the Stanley Cup Final, and Konstantinov (Angry just typing that one)